Asymmetrical Breasts Implants And Anti-Wrinkle Injectons

A Letter from Dr Hodgkinson
Medical Indemnity crisis is beginning to hit home! Dr H suggests not to delay your surgery. The Doctor is in!
work out at the gym, eat well, but my chest is still flabby. What can I do about it?

Day surgery …
Now widely accepted, but only State licensed facilities provide real safeguards

Injectables Booming!

You may have read more of late about anti-wrinkle parties and non-permanent injectibles being injected for lines and wrinkles. These ‘non-surgical’ rejuvenating treatments do not take long – they are quick, lunchtime procedures which produce nice results and a pleasing improvement.

Anti-wrinkle Treatment for Crow’s Feet

Before and After

I recently had an opportunity to visit Dr Rita Rakus, a colleague of mine whom I have known for nearly 20 years (she is known as the best “injector” in all of Great Britain!). Dr Rakus has 25 clinics throughout the British Isles and I met up with her in her London Clinic.

While I was there, I picked up a couple of little tips to make the post-injection phase easier for the patient, so that they can return to work immediately. The techniques of injection are particularly important and the use of creams as topical anaesthetics as well as occasional nerve blocks can make the injectable procedure quick and virtually pain-free, thus enabling the patient to engage in normal activities after treatment.

Cliff Richard’s secret!

Cliff Richard, who has traded on his boyish looks for the good part of 50 years, has effectively endorsed the injectable procedures. Now we know his secret (or at least one of them!). ‘Injectables’ have been around for quarter of a century, the first one being Collagen, and at the Clinic we gained a massive amount of experience using it over the years. But one of the problems with Collagen is the concern that patients might have an allergic reaction to the product.

The alternative non-permanent injectibles product has been around for 7 or 8 years, and its rate of complications is virtually nil. At our Skin Lab, we integrate these non-surgical procedures to optimise the results from injectables, using anti-wrinkle, non-permanent injectibles and the full line of Medicalia products (pharmaco-cosmetics only available through dermatological and plastic surgical practices). For those cases that need more than just injectables, the procedures of chemical peeling and laser resurfacing not only for veins but for wrinkles are available.

Call Dr Margot Campion on 9362 7405 about injectable procedures.

A Letter from Dr Hodgkinson

Medical Indemnity crisis is beginning to hit home!
You might have noticed that the Medical Indemnity crisis has just begun to affect every doctor and every patient in Australia. This is not the only industry that is plagued by increasing insurance premiums. Higher pay-outs to claimants are now a common occurrence and have driven the premiums up to ridiculously high levels.
Fortunately, I have malpractice coverage through to December 31st, but I have to announce that although I am intending to continue practice, the likely cost of the increased insurance will have to be passed on to patients after the end of December.

So, if you are considering undergoing elective cosmetic surgery, I would suggest that if possible you should proceed with this prior to December 31st 2002.

Q: I have a sagging neck, but do I need a facelift?

A: No-one likes having a double chin (“turkey neck”) but younger or older, you can usually do something about it.

From late teenage years, some patients notice the hereditary feature of a chubby fat neck. Liposuction is generally very effective for these fatty accumulations up to the age of about forty.

After forty years, many men and women aging relatively normally note a laxity of the skin and the sagging of muscles under the chin. A mini-lift is the treatment of choice at this age and can result in a marked firming and tensioning of the underlying muscles of the upper neck.

After about 45 years of age, fat and sagging skin combine to make the problem more severe, and usually a neck lift or facelift is performed.
Learn more about this or other procedures by calling us at the Clinic or just checking out our website.

Call us at the Clinic to learn more or learn more in our Procedures section and check out our Patients’ Before and After Gallery.

Day surgery now widely acccepted, but only

State licensed facilities provide real safeguards

Patients are often surprised that we can offer most cosmetic surgical procedures at the Double Bay Day Surgery on an outpatient basis without them having to spend one or more nights in hospital. The reason for this is that there has been a general acceptance by patients that outpatient surgery is safe and effective even after general anaesthesia.

Getting home more quickly

Whereas previously patients would spend three or four days in hospital after having a gall bladder removed, they now go home in five hours. Similarly, breast reduction and abdominoplasty patients can all go back to their home setting after elective cosmetic surgery as long as they are accompanied by a responsible adult.

Many patients are also concerned about the incidence of infections in private and public hospitals . Choosing to have a surgery in a private facility, only used by one surgeon and where there has never been an infected patient, is a comfort and reduces the likelihood of post-operative complications.

Quality control is the key

Although we cannot guarantee a complication will not occur; we can vouch for the quality of our facility, the consistency of the nursing and anaesthesia staff as well as the skills of our surgical team.

Dr Hodgkinson’s Double Bay Day Surgery has been functioning for five years with over 2,500 procedures performed, mostly under light general or twilight anaesthesia. Our facility is licensed by the State Board of Health which requires stringent standards in all aspects of surgical delivery, quality assurance studies, equipment maintenance and regular audits.

A seemingly inexpensive facility fee elsewhere may not be the most prudent cost-cutting investment you can make.

New implants offer hope to patients with asymmetrical breasts – available soon

New implants soon to be available in the Australian market offer hope for patients with asymmetrical breasts. This latest French development has achieved promising results elsewhere.

Breast asymmetry is very common and rounded tear-drop breast implants do not always achieve optimal improvement of the asymmetry. When considering breast augmentation, patients should accept that some degree of asymmetry will continue to exist if it was present before.

New product may help

A new product by PIP, one of the world’s largest implant manufacturers, is an asymmetrical breast implant and it is to be trialled by Dr Hodgkinson at the Double Bay Day Surgery.

Dr Hodgkinson has spent considerable time with M. Jean Claude Maas, the French manufacturer of this implant, and is convinced that in certain cases it will be of considerable advantage, providing a more balanced result and a consequent improvement in quality of life for the patient.

M. Maas was present at the recent launch of the new implant in Sydney, where he reported on the latest patient outcomes to a highly attentive audience.

There is so much demand for anti-wrinkle injections that in Great Britain, Boots Pharmacy is setting up one stop shops specifically to cater to the burgeoning demand for these procedures – anti-wrinkle/non-permanent injectibles clinics.

Fresh product important
We have been giving anti-wrinkle injections in Sydney for five years and I believe that a fresh product is important to get the optimal result. Our technique of skin freezing, rapid microinjection into specific muscles around the orbital area is highly effective in reducing crows’ feet, glabellar frown lines and forehead wrinkling.

Over-active muscles a factor
Fortunately, a thorough understanding of the muscularity of the face and the effect of over-activity of these muscles, helps patients obtain the optimal result.

Anti-wrinkle treatment complements non-permanent injectibles very well, and the two procedures are often combined

Internet presence brings international patients to the CRSC

Some patients, referring doctors and others may be surprised to learn that the internet has had a profound affect on the way we do things at the Clinic and Day Surgery.

In fact so many people are finding and communicating with us via the web that we now have had many overseas patients visiting us in Australia. While our website has increased the inflow of patients coming to see us from all over the world, it has especially been true for patients from English speaking countries such as the UK and the Americas.

The changes have not only been great for prospective patients but for our existing patients and referring doctors.

Website a reference source
“We now have so much information on our website that patients and doctors alike are referring to it regularly,” says Dr Hodgkinson.

“With this in mind, we are now in the process of creating a special password secured site for our patients where they can access all of their forms and medical instructions any time they want on-line.” Similar areas are being set up for referring doctors and colleagues.

Email has also given people the chance to communicate with us whenever they want to – even outside of business hours – with the knowledge that they will get the response they are looking for promptly without the frustration of playing phone tag.

Please take advantage of the work we’ve put into the site by using it as a reference and if you’re on the net communicate with us via email to ensure that you get the response you want.

Add our website to your favourites list now!

Operation Restore Hope Dance Party a Success!

The Filipino Ladies Organising Committee held a fun-filled dance party at Burwood RSL on 13 June.
Joey Marquez, the mayor of Paranaque, the area where Operation Restore Hope works in Manila, flew in especially for the event along with other celebrities. The evening also honored Philippine Airlines General Manager Arnul Pan and Consul General Cabactulan for their ongoing support. The evening was well supported by the Filipino community and raised thousands of dollars for the children.

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